It was the second time on court for both Elina Svitolina and Kiki Bertens today after claiming victories over Amanda Anisimova and Anett Kontaveit respectively. The two battled it out for a spot in the semifinals against Petra Kvitova who had won earlier in the day.
Despite going down 1-4 in the opening set, Bertens was dominant, dropping only three games the rest of the way to win 6-4, 6-3.
Bertens Rallies To Take Opener
Bertens found herself saving a break point after she missed a volley at 30-all in the fourth game. She went on to hold but found herself getting broken in her second service game to go down 1-3. Svitolina held quickly with the Dutchwoman calling her coach, Raemon Sluiter, to come on-court.
When asked her in her post-match press, this is what Bertens said what happened during the exchange, "He was just asking, like, How do you feel? I was, like, Well, I don't feel the ball so well. He just said, Okay, try to hit more shots in the court. Try to roll it a bit more with some spin and go from there. Go for your shots. Go for your serve. And from then on, yeah, I felt a little bit more comfortable and could turn the match around."
Right after that, the match turned around in a massive way. Bertens claimed the break in the seventh game with a backhand winner on deuce and then a forehand winner down the line as she really began to dictate the tempo from the back of the court.
The set was firmly in her hands after she broke Svitolina once again for a 5-4 lead. The Ukrainian missed a short forehand to set up 0-30 and then missed a backhand to set up break point. Bertens knocked away the overhead to take the opening set 6-4.
Bertens Continues Impressive Summer
Bertens continued her rich run of aggressive tennis into the second set. A return winner gave her 30-30 in Svitolina's third service game and then had a break point. The world number 17 had a forehand winner to break 3-2 and then consolidated for a 4-2 lead after coming back from 0-30 down.
Svitolina faced match point after down 3-5 after her forehand found the corner, but Bertens responded with a world-class backhand winner down the line past the Ukrainian who really could not do much. She saved match point and extended the match by breaking the Bertens serve, but the remainder was shortlived as she only needed one attempt on the Svitolina serve to take the match.